Topic: PL: Liverpool (4) Salah 20', Mane 46', 52, S v West Ham (0) 12.08.18 KO 13.30pm.

[Nobby Reserve]

A lovely game to watch, with a lack of bumhole-twitching nervousness. Let's hope the first of many this season.

[Mighty_Red]

Great performance and result. When you factor in the obvious rustiness and lack of sharpness from some of the players, it was as good a start as we could've hoped for.

The biggest positive is players like Milner & Gini stepping up a level - the competition for places in the centre 3 has never been greater and it shows the wonderful attitude to not let it get them down but to come in to pre-season determined to improve themselves and show themselves worthy of a starting place. If it inspires them to produce week in week out them we will be benefit greatly.

Great to finally see Keita in a competitive match, and we saw lots of good things, especially the several times he ran at the defence and put a simple (but perfect) ball in for Robbo to cross.

West Ham were probably a great opponent to start with - a club we have a history of beating at home and an attacking coach with lots of new players but we still had to get in done.

Bigger tests to come starting at Palace, but we can be happy with  what we have done and get sharper over the week.

[Chrismonster]

Fantastic way to start the season, well done lads!

Naby Keita... WOW!

[LovelyCushionedHeader]

The lino in the first half. The two men down - game stopped although it wasn't head injuries  - then they weren't on the half way line - then they were allowed back on. Their corner first half where no one went anywhere near the ball for what seemed like 5 minutes and Taylor let them. Their excessive timewasting first half - Taylor let them get away with it. The booking of AA. The diving of their number 8. The 'robust' off the ball challenges on Mane especially. Several corner and throw in decisions right in front of me that were laughable. Taylor being petty at every opportunity. The pen that looked obvious not given. Penalising Sturridge for literally just standing there waiting for the ball to drop.  The list goes on and on.

It was only because we were brilliant that none of this shit mattered - but we've seen it does matter on days when we're misfiring. Over a season, we've seen how fighting an uphill battle affects the league position. Taylor is just one of a long line of refs that will attempt to fuck us over this season.

And some fans are 'OK' with that, it seems. They are happy for our rivals to be given a free ride. Well I'm not. I don't want much. Just honest, fair and level refereeing with no advantages to anyone. Some of our fans don't agree clearly.

Whilst some of your complaints are fair like the comical booking of Trent, a lot of what you're complaining about you are in the wrong and Taylor made the correct decision.

The "pen that looked obvious but not given" was certainly not a penalty, and "penalising Sturridge for literally just standing there waiting for the ball to drop" was correct as he backed into the goalkeeper. Not sure what the linesman did wrong in the first half, and I don't think any corner or throw-in decisions were incorrect from memory.

You obviously went to the match but I would suggest that you re-watch matches on TV before criticising refereeing decisions because it's not unusual to see things wrongly at the match. Especially if you're going to be very hyperbolic about it all.

I agree that Taylor had a poor game and his background makes me suspicious whenever that is the case against us, but it doesn't help an argument if you're going to be wrong about most of the things you're complaining about.

[Medellin]

Altho i expected 3pts yesterday i still feared a bit of the unknown & potential banana skin West Ham may have brought.
Fucking hell those fears disappeared pronto..the reds were outstanding.
After losing our Pete Best..our very own Keith turned out to be the Starr we craved,quality & energy,craft..guile..all the puns soaked up after one game,you just know when you have a special talent..welcome to our new Fab 4.
But one fella managed to outshine him..step up (yet again) Hames Milner.
You know what you get from Milner..100% always & nothing less,leads by example,strong in every challenge..quality,ticks every box & yet picking your starting 11 most wouldn't have him in it.
Brilliant yesterday again.
What i was most impressed with yesterday is we didn't have a lull in the game,tge lads were on it & well done to Jürgen & the boys.
Onwards redmen.

Oh & Anthony Taylor is a c*nt.

[DonkeyWan]

Harris in the Guardian reckons nothing can be learned from that game at the weekend. West Ham were too shit.

[Medellin]

Harris in the Guardian reckons nothing can be learned from that game at the weekend. West Ham were too shit.

Same sort of shit received in work off the bitters today.
No point explaining to these people why West Ham were cack..fuckers wouldn't listen anyway.

[Groundskeeper Willie]

Looks like we've hit the ground running. Everyone were really up for it yesterday, players and fans alike. Has to be said though that WH looked a very disorganised, but on the other hand, we were all over them so it could have been us sending them in to chaos.

The pass from TAA to Keita before the first was great, as was the linesman's temporary blindness. It was great to see Sturridge score after 20 secs on the pitch.

And what a fucking bench we had. Options, options, options. If we can have just a little luck with injuries this season, we could be going places.

[No666]

The Owl's team will be meticulously organised; we need to show we can swat them aside, too. Onwards.

[Nice one, Barney lad!]

 If we can have just a little luck with injuries this season, we could be going places.
[/quote]

Exactly.
JK got them primed like a gang of hyenas chasing down a limping giraffe.

During the season there'll be an increasing rage at the abject state of PL refs. Couple of hyenas on their arse wouldn't bother me in the slightest.

[Ben87]

If we can have just a little luck with injuries this season, we could be going places.


Exactly.
JK got them primed like a gang of hyenas chasing down a limping giraffe.

During the season there'll be an increasing rage at the abject state of PL refs. Couple of hyenas on their arse wouldn't bother me in the slightest.

The refs are so determined not to be seen as being biased towards the bigger team or being swayed by the Anfield crowd that they go the other way and give pretty much everything to the other team

[Red Bird]

My abiding memory is of a West Ham defender putting his hand up each time a Liverpool player received a pass in line, in front of or just behind the defensive line. It was so pathetic by the end of the match.

[JohnM]

Happy with the performance all round showing excellent signs of exciting times to come and the Tea Leaves did okay.

Thats how we roll Inshaalah

[harleydanger]

Bad time to be a united supporter, City, Us & Jose.

[sms1986]

https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/stunning-statistic-suggests-liverpool-could-15022174

Liverpool got their 2018/19 campaign up and running in fine style with a 4-0 win over West Ham United at Anfield. Goals from Mohamed Salah, Daniel Sturridge, and a brace from Sadio Mané did the damage.

The second goal for Liverpool’s new number 10 was different from the other three, not least in having the fortune of not being ruled out when it probably should’ve been. But it was also from outside the six yard box, when the other three were all converted from very close range.

In total, the Reds had six shots from inside the six yard box. Salah and Mané each had a pair, while Sturridge and Roberto Firmino had one each. That may not sound all that impressive, but having so many is actually really rare.

For instance, Liverpool averaged 1.2 shots from six yards or closer per league match last season. Again, that doesn’t sound like many but it compared reasonably well to the figures posted by Europe’s elite teams. Manchester City averaged 1.5, as did Barcelona, while Bayern Munich had 1.4 per game and Real Madrid averaged 1.3.

In Italy, it was actually Alisson’s former side Roma who lead the way with 1.3 six yard shots per game, while Juventus averaged 0.9.

And while these figures are season-long averages, having six in one game will be very rare. It’s certainly new territory for Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool in the Premier League. In the manager’s first 106 league games across the last three seasons his side’s previous best was three shots in the six yard box, and they only managed that eight times. The most common total was zero, which happened on 41 occasions.

But why am I telling you all of this? Because of how often shots from close range are scored.

Expected goals is not a universally popular stat. It was introduced to the Match Of The Day post-match stats last season, but a search of Twitter certainly shows it’s not to everyone’s taste.

Even if expected goals aren’t for you, the simple, unsurprising fact is that the closer a shot is to goal, the more likely it is to be scored. For example, roughly three percent of shots from outside the area are converted. As much as Philippe Coutinho had a world-class effort in him at times, plenty of his long range shots went nowhere near the goal.

Move into the goal area (excluding the six yard box) and 13 percent of shots find the back of the net. As they include penalties, for other shots in that zone it’s a 12 percent conversion rate.

However, one in three shots in the six yard box find the back of the net. They really are that important and while we can’t expect Liverpool to have six every week – not everyone will play such a generously high line as West Ham – the good news is they were created by a variety of players and from different methods.

James Milner crossed for a close range Firmino effort in the 18th minute, before a pass from Andy Robertson assisted the opening goal one minute later. Firmino then later provided a pass across the box for Salah to shoot, before a Milner pull-back for Mané saw the Reds go two up in first half injury time.

Two second half corners then lead to close range shots. Salah crossed for Mané, before Milner’s corner was volleyed home by Daniel Sturridge with his first touch of the match. If Liverpool can continue to carve teams apart this well, then the goals will flow like water this season.

[rob1966]

Exactly, it's Everton-esque to find excuses in the officials, rise above it lads

It's not been bitter when this fella is concerned though. Mike Dean lost the 2006 FA Cup Final due to concerns about his impartiality, due to him being from the Wirral and living in Heswall, yet a fella from Wythenshawe, from a Man Utd supporting family, can referee our games and their games and even us V them, as the FA has no impartiality concerns?

[sms1986]

It's not been bitter when this fella is concerned though. Mike Dean lost the 2006 FA Cup Final due to concerns about his impartiality, due to him being from the Wirral and living in Heswall, yet a fella from Wythenshawe, from a Man Utd supporting family, can referee our games and their games and even us V them, as the FA has no impartiality concerns?

We've just won 4-0 and the referee in question gave us a goal that was offside, do we really need to derail the thread to talk about the referee? Who, by the way, has refereed 32 games for us, 18 of which were wins and 8 draws with only 6 losses - https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/anthony-taylor/bilanz/schiedsrichter/847. He's even given us eight penalties compared to giving United two.

[welshred1976]

We'll face sterner tests but jesus we dismantled them. Salah looked a tad pissed off - anyone any clue why?

Trents ball to Nabby then Nabby's to Robbo was just so good. What a time to be a Liverpool supporter.

[nico 8]

Same here. A few errors from Ederson against a more clinical side and they could have easily drawn that game. That said, they did have a few key players missing

Ederson was shaky and Cech had a mare as well. Not suited to playing the ball out from the back. Cech nearly passed a square pass into his net. Went for a corner. Yet neither keeper has been vilified by the press / pundits. Imagine if either Karius or Allison produced such a performance.

[sms1986]

We'll face sterner tests but jesus we dismantled them. Salah looked a tad pissed off - anyone any clue why?

Trents ball to Nabby then Nabby's to Robbo was just so good. What a time to be a Liverpool supporter.

Plus we weren't even at 100%, it could easily have been six or seven!

[Andy @ Allerton!]

Whilst some of your complaints are fair like the comical booking of Trent, a lot of what you're complaining about you are in the wrong and Taylor made the correct decision.

The "pen that looked obvious but not given" was certainly not a penalty, and "penalising Sturridge for literally just standing there waiting for the ball to drop" was correct as he backed into the goalkeeper. Not sure what the linesman did wrong in the first half, and I don't think any corner or throw-in decisions were incorrect from memory.

You obviously went to the match but I would suggest that you re-watch matches on TV before criticising refereeing decisions because it's not unusual to see things wrongly at the match. Especially if you're going to be very hyperbolic about it all.

I agree that Taylor had a poor game and his background makes me suspicious whenever that is the case against us, but it doesn't help an argument if you're going to be wrong about most of the things you're complaining about.

My ST is towards the Kop and my mates generally are either in the Kop or the near me in the SKD or the Moan stand and they all were going ballistic at the lino in the pub after the match for his first half performance. Raising his flag four or five times for incorrect offsides. He made a couple of mistakes after not flagging offsdes that were too. Maybe I was being harsh on him - maybe he wasn't bent - he was just totally shite.

I saw the Sturridge one again in the pub after and no way he was backing in - if anything it was a foul by the keeper on him. And you don't mention the snide off the ball challenges at all on Mane?

[TravisBickle]

Referees are so determined not to be seen as being swayed by the Kop that they give literally everything to the other team. It’s beyond a joke now and Jurgen should say something about it. One penalty at Anfield last season tells you everything you need to know.

 Anyway, that was fucking great yesterday. We played some really attractive stuff and nobody had a poor game. The options off the bench were fantastic as well. I’m really starting to get excited about Studge again, which is foolish given his track record but *if* he can stay fit then he’ll have a major role to play for us this year.

 Palace next and I can’t wait.

[sms1986]

Anyway, that was fucking great yesterday. We played some really attractive stuff and nobody had a poor game. The options off the bench were fantastic as well. I’m really starting to get excited about Studge again, which is foolish given his track record but *if* he can stay fit then he’ll have a major role to play for us this year.

The bench we had yesterday was our strongest in years, which will certainly help us this season.

[Suareznumber7]

Same sort of shit received in work off the bitters today.
No point explaining to these people why West Ham were cack..fuckers wouldn't listen anyway.

Yeah, there’s a reason why they looked so poor. 

[Suareznumber7]

My ST is towards the Kop and my mates generally are either in the Kop or the near me in the SKD or the Moan stand and they all were going ballistic at the lino in the pub after the match for his first half performance. Raising his flag four or five times for incorrect offsides. He made a couple of mistakes after not flagging offsdes that were too. Maybe I was being harsh on him - maybe he wasn't bent - he was just totally shite.

I saw the Sturridge one again in the pub after and no way he was backing in - if anything it was a foul by the keeper on him. And you don't mention the snide off the ball challenges at all on Mane?

English Referees are shit in general.  Some just moreso then others. 

[sms1986]

Yeah, there’s a reason why they looked so poor.

Yeah, the score didn't flatter us at all, it flattered West Ham because we could easily have gotten six or seven.

[rocco]

Front 3 subbed   , can see this been a regular thing to keep them fresh once were 3+ up.

[Gaz123456]

Front 3 subbed   , can see this been a regular thing to keep them fresh once were 3+ up.

They're only going to get 60 minutes each game then!

[rocco]

They're only going to get 60 minutes each game then!

Klopp will wait until a bit later , think most fatigue leading to injury happens in the last 20

[Medellin]

We've just won 4-0 and the referee in question gave us a goal that was offside, do we really need to derail the thread to talk about the referee? Who, by the way, has refereed 32 games for us, 18 of which were wins and 8 draws with only 6 losses - https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/anthony-taylor/bilanz/schiedsrichter/847. He's even given us eight penalties compared to giving United two.

Taylor was part of the game & if he was shit he was shit,irrespective of the result.
Of course he was going to give that 'offside' goal if the linesman deemed it fair.
The thread ain't derailed at all.
Yeah we were brilliant & won well,in the same breath Taylor was fucking dire & he can notch another win on that stat being shite too.

[RedKenWah]

I don't think the ref was malicious in anyway, i just think he is one of the more inept ref's that we have in our league. I think as well due to the genuine lack in quality of ref's that we have, you end up with inept refs such as Anthony Taylor.

I think the general decisions given during the game were mostly wrong, but i don't think his display had any adverse impact on how we played.

[sms1986]

Klopp will wait until a bit later , think most fatigue leading to injury happens in the last 20

Yeah, and it'll pay off a lot in the later stages of the season, especially if we're still in the FA Cup and Champions League (League Cup finishes early).

[SlowRap]

Excuses? What the fuck are you on about? Excuses that we fucking won 4-0? Give your head a wobble lad.

Take some of your own advise lid, you sound like Joe Anderson, take legal action against a ref who gave us an offside goal in a game we won 4-0 - there'll be time for you to moan about refs, this game is not it

[Andy @ Allerton!]

Moaning about the officials aside

We were tremendous. Very impressive, very solid and didn't really get out of first gear. Allisson looks composed and calm at the back, the defenders worked hard and dealt with most issues before they became problems. Our midfield looked composed, controlled and lively and the forwards movement and understanding was great to see.

The biggest thing for me though was the strength of depth on the bench. We have now got an actual squad rather than a team.

Great game. Wonderful day out watching the Mighty Reds. If we can keep improving on our understanding then hopefully we have a chance to do very well this season.

[TepidT2O]

Is there a case of teams being beaten beifre they arrive?

West Ham seemed that way....  when teams have written off the three points before they arrive, it makes your life so much easier.

[sms1986]

Is there a case of teams being beaten beifre they arrive?

West Ham seemed that way....  when teams have written off the three points before they arrive, it makes your life so much easier.

I think so, Anfield is becoming a very daunting place for the visitors again. We've not even conceded a goal at home since February.

[So… Howard Philips]

Is there a case of teams being beaten beifre they arrive?

West Ham seemed that way....  when teams have written off the three points before they arrive, it makes your life so much easier.

We should thank our lucky stars that Big Andy wasn't playing. Can you imagine the hyperbolic cliche ridden commentary culminating in getting up to the Big Man.

[-HH-]

Everyone said before the game what a biased twat that Manc shitbag would be and that's the way it turned out.

Yes we were brilliant and we played above his efforts to deny us a win but him and his shithouse linesmen shouldn't be able to get away with that. Every little decision was shite and some of the bigger ones were laughable.

Liverpool should be taking legal action against this utter bellend.

I really wish you would engage your brain before writing shit like this. What are we taking action against him for Andy? Do you have some actual evidence? I suspect if there were a photo of young Anthony in a Man U shirt it would have surfaced by now.

The only place you could even potentially take action would be against his employers. You could argue that the cities of Liverpool and Manchester have a rivalry beyond football and that a natural bias might exist. Therefore he shouldn't be reffing Liverpool, Everton, Man U or Man City. Still plenty of games to go around.

But you would have to think of the consequences of that. Far better to start a dialogue I would have thought. But either way you spouting nonsense about taking legal action against him directly makes anyone who agrees he shouldn't be setting our games look like mad conspiracy theorists. Give it a rest.

[liversaint]

looks like Andy has caught a few...

[-HH-]

looks like Andy has caught a few...

Andy doesn't catch anything, he's exactly like this in real life too. Loves the reds, but doesn't engage his brain before speaking/typing.